Rehabilitating Michael Vick

I suspect Michael Vick makes the “my favorite athletes” list of precious few people. No, he usually ends up at the other extreme, managing to land at the top of the Nielsen and E-Poll Market Research list of most disliked athletes in February 2012, and probably wouldn’t fare much better today if he were still an active player in the NFL.

 

He didn’t start that way.  Vick gained national attention as the star quarterback of the Virginia Tech football team for two years, a tenure that saw him lose only one regular season game (in which he did not play the entire game) and took him to an exciting national championship showdown with Florida State University.  He declared himself eligible for the NFL draft after the second year and became the highest paid NFL player in history up to that time, going on to demonstrate his stunning athleticism as the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons.

 

But in 2007 it came crashing down around him when, as evidence against him mounted, he pled guilty to running an illegal dog-fighting ring.  He eventually served 18 months in federal prison.  He lost all his endorsement deals and declared bankruptcy in 2008.

 

Vick and his apparently competent but unheeded financial advisor later cited Vick’s propensity for listening to the advice of friends over the advisor’s counsel, bad investments and business ventures, and overspending on himself and others as the main causes of his bankruptcy.  From a ten-year, $130 million dollar contract with the Falcons to millions in debt in just a few short years—he looked like just another free-spending, self-centered star.

 

I remember Vick at the time appealed to his faith in God that would get him through the ordeal, lamenting that he’d lost his way but had rediscovered his spiritual roots.  I also recall that many people accused him of playing the Jesus Card as his get-off-easy pass.  I can’t say I wasn’t one of them.  And could anyone blame me?  How many crooks play that game?  It’s easy to get jaded and cynical about these appeals to faith when the appellants are guilty of despicable acts but suddenly turn to heaven…after getting caught.

 

Released from prison in May 2009, Vick was eventually allowed back into the NFL and in 2010 was named its Comeback Player of the Year, setting career highs for passing yards and touchdowns.  He retired from playing this year and became a studio analyst for football telecasts at Fox.

 

He has never really shaken the Bad Boy label, despite his efforts at promoting animal rights causes and performing other public service.  In fact, in 2013 he cancelled several book signings due to “credible threats” against the retailers, his publisher, and even his family.  I suppose he will always carry the baggage of his past.  No redemption for him.

 

But I’m one skeptic who has changed his tune.  On November 17, ESPN reported that Michael Vick had just the day before made the final $1.5 million payment to creditors to whom he owed money when he declared bankruptcy nine years ago.  Vick had opted NOT to file under Chapter 7 bankruptcy which would have allowed him to liquidate his assets and not owe anything more.  ESPN reported that instead he went on a restrictive budget as part of an effort to repay his creditors.  “I didn’t want to stiff people who never stiffed me,” they quoted him as saying.  So in the end he had repaid $17.4 million, about 99 cents on the dollar of his outstanding debt.  It’s almost unheard of in bankruptcy cases.

 

I don’t recall seeing this story making the headlines anywhere other than ESPN, certainly not to the extent that the media covered Vick’s fall from grace.  But he stands tall in my estimation.  Perfect?  Who of us is?  But to use that common expression, he “put his money where his mouth is”.  Faith-talk, God-talk….that’s easy.  Here’s a man who put cleats on his faith and walked a righteous path.

 

Thank you, Michael Vick.  I even forgive you for trouncing my University of Virginia Cavaliers, twice, in the annual Commonwealth Cup matchup.

 

Until next time,

 

Roger

“But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord!  Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything I will pay back four times the amount.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house.’” Luke 19:8,9 NIV®*

*Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®

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